In a far off land, in a far off time; there lived a young girl of insurmountable power. This power, as powers so often are, was latent. The potential was there, dormant and waiting for a spark to bring it forth. So for all intents and purposes, at least as far as the townsfolk were concerned, this was a wholly unremarkable little girl. Not too pretty but far from ugly, not too smart but by no means dimwitted, average and unassuming in every way.
The girl, who's name was Elsa, had a small dog who was her entire life. The dog, who's name was Tak, also had a very special friend. This friend had to be kept secret from Elsa because he was a being who's existence was very rarely accepted by most rational people.
We use rational in a very tenuous manner here. For if these so called rational people were to see Tak's friend, they would deny his existence in blatant contradiction to their own observations. They would attempt to explain away his existence and hope that no one noticed how little sense the explanations made. Their downfall is their utter reliance on the faith of skepticism; a faith based entirely on disproving our observations.
This topic was discussed at length in the five hundred and tenth Hrafn council at Nilenrood and the full proceedings are available for public viewing at the Hall of Records. But our story is not concerned with the idle chatter of statesmen; let it suffice to say that the decision had been reached not to reveal the identities of observable yet unaccepted beings to those men of reason.
Tak's friend was one of these beings, as was Tak. For Tak, as you may have already guessed, was no ordinary dog. He was what one might refer to as a magical dog. He would never refer to himself in such a manner, but convention places anything outside of the skeptics faith into the category of magical. They equate the term magical with fanciful and, ultimately, impossible. Magic handlers work a lifetime to hone their art and the highly esteemed title of magical is laughed at in the world of the skeptics.
Now Tak was no harnesser of magic, nor was he someone to be laughed at. His adorable exterior was shell to a fierce devotion and loyalty, both to his mistress and to his task.
For Tak had been trusted, chosen by the King himself, to guard and guide the girl, Elsa. As we all know, a powerful child rarely arises without some form of prophecy. Luckily for everyone concerned, the prophecy surrounding Elsa had been rather straightforward and posed little difficulty for the royal advisors.
So Tak had been assigned to the girl, an obvious honor but also a slight burden. Tak had no desire to become a lapdog to a spoiled girl in a land of skepticism. A land where one step out of line could call his entire existence into question. He came from a good family and was well respected in the realm of magic. He was treated as one would treat a dog, but after all, he was a dog. He had no aspirations to be anything but a dog—he scoffed at the fringe groups of rebels, walking on their hindfeet and wearing clothing—but people in the land of skepticism did not always treat dogs as they should be treated.
So it was with barely repressed trepidation that Tak took his post as Elsa's guardian and constant companion. I had been arranged for one of the King's guards, disguised as a merchant, to bring a basket of puppies to the weekly market in the town where Elsa's family resided. As expected, Elsa's father, a truly kindhearted man, decided to bring his newborn daughter a puppy. And with that, Tak began his life with Elsa.
It was stated earlier that Elsa was an altogether unremarkable girl. This was a slight exaggeration for there was one area in which Elsa shone; her heart. Even as a baby, Elsa was kind, sweet, quick to love, slow to anger, and always ready to forgive. The wide eyed and curious baby took no time in capturing Tak's heart. He was constantly at her side; Tak would bring her whatever she needed, guide her away from trouble, and it was even with Tak's assistance that baby Elsa learned to walk.
Elsa's parents quickly discovered that Tak was more reliable and vigilant than any nanny and he was trusted implicitly by them. Neither of them had owned dogs before so they didn't notice the strange lack of necessity for any obedience training. It was accepted that Tak was simply a remarkably clever beast. Elsa's father would often boast of his great judge of canine character, seemingly forgetting that it was the puppy merchant who had selected Tak from the basket. Her mother would often gaze at Tak for a moment as he trotted off to do whatever complex task she had commanded of him. She would shake her head and mutter that it was almost as if he understood every word they spoke to him. But Tak's proudest moment came when Elsa managed to reclaim his name for him.
Elsa's father had dubbed him Rover when he was first introduced to the family. He was a kindhearted man, but kindhearted does not always mean clever. Within a week, baby Elsa was calling him Tak, a phenomenon written off by her parents as mere baby talk. Elsa was persistent, though; every time she needed Tak, she would yell his name; she would point at him, look up at her parents, giggle, and say, "Tak". Eventually, it was accepted that Rover had been redubbed as Tak, a silly baby noise. It did seem to her parents that the dog was more responsive to his new name but the sentience of dogs seemed as if it would be deemed unreasonable so they quickly put it out of their minds. Tak never discovered how Elsa had managed to attach him to his actual name but he was eternally grateful. The royal advisors were overjoyed by the report and hailed it as an incredibly good omen.
No comments:
Post a Comment